Visualize the Game Console Generation Shift

“There is nothing more sad or glorious than generations changing hands,” John Cougar Mellencamp wrote in the liner notes to his classic album, Scarecrow.

And so it goes with the handover from the Gamecube and PS2 to the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360: Gaming systems that we once loved are thrown into the dustbin of history, while strange new devices take center stage.

Here’s one way to look at those market shifts: With an interactive infographic from Tableau Software.

In addition to the console trends, you can watch Nintendo gain market share at Sony’s expense (while Microsoft hangs in there at a steady level).

The data, from NPD Group, is not particularly new, but the visualization is. If you ever wondered what a generational shift in technologies looks like, here you go.

What other tech data would you like to see visualized? Let us know in the comments!